Method of constructing wheel rims



Oct. 13,1925. 1,557,210

J. W. LEE

METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING WHEEL RIMS Filed March 5, 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 1Oct. 13,1925. 1,557,210

J. W. LEE

METHOD OF CONSTRUC'IING WHEEL RIMS Filed March 5, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 2a w u 6 n a n h 0ct..13, 1925. v 1,557,210

' J. W. LEE

METHOD OF GONSTRUC'IING WHEEL RIMS Filed March 5, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 5UQMM M AL a f wwfimm Patented Get. 13, 1925.

ram-1 UNITE PAENT JOHN W. LEE, OF DAYTON, OI-IIO, ASSIGNOR T0 THE INLANDMANUFACTURING COM- IPANY, OF DAYTON, 03110, A OORTPORATIQN 0F DELA'WABE.

METHOD OF CONSTRUOTING WHEEL RIlVIS.

Application filed March 5, 1924. Serial No. 697,161.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that 1, JOHN W. LEE, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, rcsiding at Dayton, county of Montgomery, and State of Ohio,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods ofConstructing Wheel Rims, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description.

This invention relates to a method of a sembling together separate woodarcuate segments to form an annulus, and an ZLSSGDL bling toolespecially adapted for carrying out said method.

An object of this invention isto provide an improvement in the presentmethod of joining together separate wood segments to form an annulus, bywhich improvement the time and cost of assembling an annulus is greatlyreduced and also a stronger and more uniform joint between the separatesegments is obtained. I-Ieretofore in the manufacture of handwheelsespecially steer-- ing wheels for automotive vehicles, a nun1- ber ofseparate wood segments having scarfed ends have glue applied to thecontacting surfaces after which the segments are clamped together in theform of an annulus and held firmly in the clamped position by somesuitable external means until the glue has dried sufficiently to permitthe external clamping means to be removed. In the method of thisinvention however the separate scarfed and glued segments are pressedtogether with a very high pressure but for only a short interval oftime, after which the annulus is removed from the clamping means and theglue permitted to dry with no external pressure upon said annulus. Itappears that when this method is used the'glue in the scarf joints isdistributed more uniformly over all the con tacting surfaces of eachjoint and hence a better and stronger joint is obtained. Also sincethere is no clamping means around the outer periphery of the annulusdrying may take place at the outer edges of the joint as well as at theinner edges thereof and hence the glue dries more uniformly throughoutthe entire oint. This feature of course makes for a stronger joint.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein a preferred form of embodiment of the presentinvention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an assembling tool for steering wheel rims andis built according to this invention and for the purpose of carrying outthe method of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but shows the clamping mechanism incompressed position upon a wooden annulus shown in dot and dash linestherein.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the tool shown in lfigs. 1 and 2.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout theseveral views.

Numeral 1O designates the base plate cash ing of the tool. This castingis provided with a circular table 11 upon which the wood annulus 12 isadapted to be placed (see Fig. 2), the table being provided with acentral opening 13 which preferably is of slightly smaller diameter thanthe inner periphery of the annulus 12 as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

A stationary arcuate member 15 is rigidly secured or integral with thecasting 10, the arcuate face 16 of member 15 being positioned to contactwith the outer periphery of the annulus 12 and having a radius ofcurvature equal to that of the annulus after it is compressed.

Two movable arcuate levers 20 and 21 are pivoted to the castings 10 atthe pivots 22, and are swingable about these pivots 22 so that theirarcuate faces 23 and 24 respectively may be swung inwardly to complete acylindrical surface with the station ary arcuate face 16. i

The swinging levers 20 and 21 are operated by a compressed air cylinder25 which may be of any suitable and well known form and hence will notbe described in detail herein. The reciprocable head 26 of the aircylinder operates the two similar bell crank levers 27, pivoted to thebase plate at pivots 28, in a manner which will be obvious from theshowing in the drawings. When the head 26 is moved in the direction ofarrow 30 in Fig. 2, the two levers 20 and 21 will swing upon pivots 22in the direction indicated by arrows 31 thereby causing the arcuatesurfaces 23 and 24 to press with an enormous force upon the outerperiphery of the annulus 12, also pressing the annulus 12 against thestationary arcuate surface 16. Suitable stop means are provided to limitthe inward motion of levers and 21 at the point where surfaces 23, 24:,and 16 all lie in substantially the same cylindrical surface which ofcourse has a diameter equal to the desired outer diameter of the annulus12.

In the operation of the tool the movement of the head 26 in controlledby a compressed air valve for cylinder 25 located within convenientreachof the operator. By means of this valve the operator first moveslevers 20 and 21 to the position shown in Fig. 1. He then takes theseparate wood segments, having their scarfed ends well covered withglue, and loosely arranges them upon the table 11 in the form of anannulus. The air valve is again turned to move head 26 in the directionof arrow 30 whereupon clamping levers 20 and 21 swing inwardly and pressthe segments together into a true circular shape with an enormous force.The excess glue at the joints between the segments oozes out and runsdown below table 11 through the openings provided in table 11immediately below each of the joints. This high pressure upon the outerperiphery of the annulus 12 needbe held only long enough for the excessglue to be all pressed out and the scarf teeth to be wedged togetherwith only a very thin film of glue therebetween. Ordinarily only fromfive to ten seconds is required for this purpose but of course thisinterval of time will vary some with the kind of glue and wood used andwith the amount of force applied to the levers 20 and 21. Preferably theparts of the tool are made heavy enough to withstand a very high forceand hence the limit-of'the amount of force which may be used will bedetermined by the compressive strength of the wood annulus. At the endof this short time interval the levers 20 and 21 are moved back and theannulus 12 removed from the tool and transported to the drying roomwhere the rims are racked up in huge racks and the glue permitted todry. After drying the rims are shaped by well known means to anroval orother suitable section convenient for grasping with the hands. The highpressure with which the segments are pressed together causes them tohold together with sufficient strength'to permit the rims to be handledquite roughly immediately upon being removed from the tool.

\Vhile the form of embodiment of the present invention as hereindisclosed, con stitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood thatother forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claimswhich follow.

hat is claimed is as follows:

1. The method of joining together separate wood segments to form anannulus, comprising: cutting mutually intermeshing teeth in the enclsofsaid segments, applying glue to said ends to fully cover all contactingsurfaces thereof, arranging said segments together in the form of anannulus and then aplying a high radial pressure upon the outer peripheryof the annulus for a short interval of time, said pressure beingsufficiently high to press the intermeshing teeth of said segments sotightly together that they hold together with considerable tenacityafter said pressure is removed and before the glue has had time tobegindrying, andthen permitting the glued joints to dry with no radialpressure upon said annulus.

2. The method of joining together the glued scarfed ends'of separatewood segments to form an annulus,-eomprising: arranging said' segmentstogether loosely in the form of an annulus,applyinga high radialpressure upon the outer periphery of the annulus for a relatively shortinterval of time compared to the time required for the glue toappreciably change in viscosity, removing said radial pressure, and thenpermitting the glue to dry while said annulus is free of any externalpressure.

In testimony whereof I hereto afiix my signature.

JOHN W. LEE.

